After many years of
looking enviously on other nations, Italy could finally boast their new champion.
On
21 April 1965, after five years of construction, a
ship that was over 45,000 gross
tons and over 900 feet long,
with a service speed of 27 knots
was delivered. It was the SS Michelangelo, theship
that represented a synthesis of Italian industry and
artistry.

The
SS Michelangelo
had a very distinctive profile: Sleek and sharp. The
most striking feature in the ships were their Turin
polytechnic-designed funnels, which consisted of an
intricate trellis-like pipework (instead of the
traditional even surface) to allow wind to pass
through the funnel, and a large smoke deflector fin
on the top. The funnel design proved to be
highly effective in keeping smoke off the rear
decks. The smoke deflectors became popular in
ship design during the 1970s and 1980s, whereas the
idea of allowing wind to pass though the funnel was
picked up again in the late 1980s and is almost the
norm in modern shipbuilding.